Box

by Mark Powell (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2003

  $4.38

  Stanley dreams of making it big as a DJ, playing the all-nighters with his sidekick Clive; Pow-Wow's as tough as the next kid, patrolling the streets with his gang; Sylvia just wants to escape from the grind of looking after her ageing mother. When Clive and Stanley join forces to establish a male escort agency, the situation hots up...This is a picture of inner city London. Mark Powell has created a gritty, contemporary landscape filled with a vibrant cast of characters, from wannabe gangsters to professional psychics. Slick, fast-paced and surprisingly tender, BOX is aN engrossing window on contemporary London as well as a satisfying page-turner.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2003

  $5.94

  Clive and Stanley are two thirty-something no-hopers, who drift from one useless moneymaking scheme to another. Patricia is a lonely middle-aged woman who spends her days caring for her elderly and abusive mother, and Pow-Wow, a sixteen year old gangster in the making. When Clive meets Patricia through an escort agency set up by him and Stanley, and Pow-Wow gets framed for the murder of Patricia's mother, everything comes together. The second half of the book deals with the consequences of the murder, and its implications for the characters. The novel is concerned as much with the ever-evolving relationships between the characters, as it is with the crime itself. It's often funny and sometimes touching, but without ever resorting to sentimentality. Vividly written in spare prose, this is a hard-hitting novel and a great read.